THIS is a good example of a type of film, long since gone the way of high button shoes, hat pins and the Single Wing Formation in Football. The inclusion of Newsreels on the weekly playbills in our national movie houses from the 1920's to their demise in the late '60's gave rise to special shorts covering particular events; such as the World Series, the Rose Bowl Game and Heavyweight Boxing Championship Bouts. Included in the line-up in "those Good Old Days" were special short subjects in the Sports News category which focused on a particularly important Heavyweight Wrestling Match; being it of a Title Change nature or just a bout of two top-rated contenders.
THESE special productions are not to be confused with those installments of shorts such as Columbia's Sports Series; which included highlights of Wrestling Matches' odd moments and comical happenings, from Arenas all over the USA and the World. Our Short Subjects were strictly serious business; designed to bring us visual images and narrative reports of those events that we would read about in the daily sports pages.
TODAY'S subject matter, SHIKAT VS. LEWIS WRESTLING MATCH gives us about a 20 minute sampling of what was essentially a championship bout. Even though no particular "Title Belt" was at stake, the match had all of the ingredients necessary for one. The "Contest" (and it truly was what is called a "Shooting Match" or just a "Shoot" for short) was promoted between two of the top Pro Grapplers around, first as a benefit for the New York Milk Fund; but surely it must have had some underlying business or "political" implications ("Political" meaning in its internal workings of the Wrestling Game.) The venue utilized was the then new outdoor Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City, Queens, New York. It was June 9, 1932.
BACK in the days of the "Wrestling Trusts", the grapplers were forced to take their employment with one group or another. One either stuck to the bookings given him from one "Association", "Alliance" or "Federation" or be forced into going out and getting a real job. (This sort of high-handed treatment existed right up to recent times with certain promoters using iron-fisted methods to maintain control.
WHEN a top notch box-office draw or Championship grade "shooter" would change his promotional affiliations he would often be made to participate in a special, Main Event bout; which was intended to generate interest in the Mat Game far beyond the one match. Such is our theory of the origin of this particular bout, that Ed "Strangler" Lewis was compelled to meet up with the German Import, Herr Rickard 'Dick' Shikat in a contest closely supervised by and sanctioned by New York State Athletic Commission. (There was a matter of recognition as Champion; but only by the New York State Athletic Commission.)
AS FOR THE PICTURE, the movie going public was given a snippet of what was about an hour and ten minutes worth of top notch, no holds barred wrestling; the very best in "The King of Sports". There were no pyrotechnics, no half-naked valet girls and no musically supported processions to the ring; just the ring the promoter, the ring announcer, the referee and the two contestants. Following the opening bell, it was strictly mano y mano; with no outside interference, no managers and no gimmicks.
VIEWING the bout's highlights we are struck by the obvious contrast in the styles of the two men. Whereas both were well known as "Shooters" or even as "Hookers" (A wrestler with the ability to inflict extreme damage on opponents); their approach seems quite a world apart from the other man's. Dick Shikat's forte being constantly going on the attack; using a variety of maneuvers and holds to bring his opponent to the mat, seeking a pin fall. "Strangler" Lewis obviously made use of a true sense of patience and a carefully crafted defensive plan. In a strategy that predated the "Rope-a-Dope" antics used by Muhammad Ali some 4 decades later in his Championship Bought with George Foreman, Lewis would let his opponent continually keep coming after him until just the right moment.
AND that time did come along as late in the match, Lewis turns a bull rushing attack by Shikat to his own advantage; crashing the German* right down into the mat. Following this was a full application of the patented "Strangler" Lewis headlock; which Ed used as a method of control, forcing the nearly unconscious opponents shoulders to the mat to be tapped out by Referee 'Gunboat' Smith.
WE first became aware of this sports short when it was offered as an item for sale by the old 'BLACKHAWK Films' of Davenport, Iowa, via their catalog and monthly fliers. The Blackhawk folks offered the film as a Super 8 MM Silent or as a 16 MM Sound featurette. The year was 1973; and we got the Super 8 format.
ABOUT 20 years ago, a video cassette surfaced entitled WRESTLING THRILLS OF YESTERYEAR. In it is contained a full sound version of Shikat vs. Lewis with the bonus of having a copy of the oldest known surviving wrestling film, STECHER VS. CADDOCK (1920), a silent (naturally) record of the great Heavyweight Wrestling Championship Match from Madison Square Garden, January 20, 1920.
THE VHS Cassette is available through two different mail order houses and can be located by simply "Googling" the cassette's title. It will prove to be an interesting addition to anyone's home library.
NOTE: * When we say "German", we could mean either guy; as Ed "Strangler" Lewis was born in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, June 30, 1891 as Robert Friedrich!
POODELE SCHNITZ!!
THESE special productions are not to be confused with those installments of shorts such as Columbia's Sports Series; which included highlights of Wrestling Matches' odd moments and comical happenings, from Arenas all over the USA and the World. Our Short Subjects were strictly serious business; designed to bring us visual images and narrative reports of those events that we would read about in the daily sports pages.
TODAY'S subject matter, SHIKAT VS. LEWIS WRESTLING MATCH gives us about a 20 minute sampling of what was essentially a championship bout. Even though no particular "Title Belt" was at stake, the match had all of the ingredients necessary for one. The "Contest" (and it truly was what is called a "Shooting Match" or just a "Shoot" for short) was promoted between two of the top Pro Grapplers around, first as a benefit for the New York Milk Fund; but surely it must have had some underlying business or "political" implications ("Political" meaning in its internal workings of the Wrestling Game.) The venue utilized was the then new outdoor Madison Square Garden Bowl in Long Island City, Queens, New York. It was June 9, 1932.
BACK in the days of the "Wrestling Trusts", the grapplers were forced to take their employment with one group or another. One either stuck to the bookings given him from one "Association", "Alliance" or "Federation" or be forced into going out and getting a real job. (This sort of high-handed treatment existed right up to recent times with certain promoters using iron-fisted methods to maintain control.
WHEN a top notch box-office draw or Championship grade "shooter" would change his promotional affiliations he would often be made to participate in a special, Main Event bout; which was intended to generate interest in the Mat Game far beyond the one match. Such is our theory of the origin of this particular bout, that Ed "Strangler" Lewis was compelled to meet up with the German Import, Herr Rickard 'Dick' Shikat in a contest closely supervised by and sanctioned by New York State Athletic Commission. (There was a matter of recognition as Champion; but only by the New York State Athletic Commission.)
AS FOR THE PICTURE, the movie going public was given a snippet of what was about an hour and ten minutes worth of top notch, no holds barred wrestling; the very best in "The King of Sports". There were no pyrotechnics, no half-naked valet girls and no musically supported processions to the ring; just the ring the promoter, the ring announcer, the referee and the two contestants. Following the opening bell, it was strictly mano y mano; with no outside interference, no managers and no gimmicks.
VIEWING the bout's highlights we are struck by the obvious contrast in the styles of the two men. Whereas both were well known as "Shooters" or even as "Hookers" (A wrestler with the ability to inflict extreme damage on opponents); their approach seems quite a world apart from the other man's. Dick Shikat's forte being constantly going on the attack; using a variety of maneuvers and holds to bring his opponent to the mat, seeking a pin fall. "Strangler" Lewis obviously made use of a true sense of patience and a carefully crafted defensive plan. In a strategy that predated the "Rope-a-Dope" antics used by Muhammad Ali some 4 decades later in his Championship Bought with George Foreman, Lewis would let his opponent continually keep coming after him until just the right moment.
AND that time did come along as late in the match, Lewis turns a bull rushing attack by Shikat to his own advantage; crashing the German* right down into the mat. Following this was a full application of the patented "Strangler" Lewis headlock; which Ed used as a method of control, forcing the nearly unconscious opponents shoulders to the mat to be tapped out by Referee 'Gunboat' Smith.
WE first became aware of this sports short when it was offered as an item for sale by the old 'BLACKHAWK Films' of Davenport, Iowa, via their catalog and monthly fliers. The Blackhawk folks offered the film as a Super 8 MM Silent or as a 16 MM Sound featurette. The year was 1973; and we got the Super 8 format.
ABOUT 20 years ago, a video cassette surfaced entitled WRESTLING THRILLS OF YESTERYEAR. In it is contained a full sound version of Shikat vs. Lewis with the bonus of having a copy of the oldest known surviving wrestling film, STECHER VS. CADDOCK (1920), a silent (naturally) record of the great Heavyweight Wrestling Championship Match from Madison Square Garden, January 20, 1920.
THE VHS Cassette is available through two different mail order houses and can be located by simply "Googling" the cassette's title. It will prove to be an interesting addition to anyone's home library.
NOTE: * When we say "German", we could mean either guy; as Ed "Strangler" Lewis was born in Nekoosa, Wisconsin, June 30, 1891 as Robert Friedrich!
POODELE SCHNITZ!!
